EXETER — A mother and her two sons, ages 4 and 11, who got lost while on an afternoon hike Monday in the Henderson-Swasey Town Forest, were found safe later that night.

Police say the trio started the hike around 2:30 p.m. Monday and during the hike they became lost.

At 7:17 p.m. the New Hampshire State Police responded to Henderson-Swasey Town Forest off Route 85 to assist Exeter police in the search for the missing family. The trio was located approximately one hour later by Trooper Gary Ingham, his K-9 Grunt, and Trooper Matthew Locke assigned to Troop A in Epping. The woman and her sons were uninjured, but for safety precautions were checked by Exeter paramedics and released from the command post.